1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a load tray for supporting and protecting a load, especially a load that is to be placed on a pallet. The invention is particularly advantageous when used in between a pallet and a load when the palletized load is wrapped, to unitize the pallet and the load, because the load tray according to the invention acts to minimize damage to the load and maximize the integrity of the load.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today, many different products are shipped from the point where they are manufactured and/or packaged to distribution outlets from whence they are shipped again to retail outlets. Many grocery items, for example, are packaged in packages which are placed, in groups, onto pallets. The palletized loads are very often unitized by wrapping either with a stretch wrap or a heat shrink wrap. In the grocery business, pallets are widely used and they are highly standardized in terms of size. The Grocery Manufacturers of America (“GMA”) actually has a pallet Subcommittee which recommends, from time to time, specifications for the standard GMA pallet which is 48 inches by 40 inches and designed to handle up to 2,800 pounds of payload. However, grocery items are not standardized in terms of size across the board and the sizes of grocery item loads are not standardized with reference to the standard size grocery pallet. This is true outside of the grocery business, too. Consequently, some pallet loads have a footprint that is smaller than the upper, load bearing surface of a pallet on which the load will be transported. Some loads have a footprint that is just about the size of the upper bearing surface of a pallet on which it will be transported and some loads have a footprint that is bigger than the upper bearing surface of a pallet on which the load will be transported.
All palletized loads are subject to being damaged in transit or in storage, some more than others. Bagged goods are especially prone to being damaged and especially prone are the bags of goods that are on or near the bottom of a palletized load. Prior art has been developed to address the issue of damaged goods on pallets. Flat sheets of paperboard, corrugated fiberboard, corrugated plastic and the like have been used between the upper bearing surfaces of pallets and the loads placed thereon. Trays with pre-glued side walls have also been used. Neither the flat sheet nor the tray works well when wrapping a palletized load with shrink wrap or stretch wrap to unitize the load. Thus, there remains a need for the development of products and processes that can reduce the losses associated with damage to palletized goods, especially when the palletized goods are to be unitized as by wrapping.